Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
Jim Curtin knows he has to rotate the squad for the upcoming road trip.
A history of the wildest matches between Philadelphia and New York Red Bulls ahead of Sunday’s match.
The Union know there’s “something different” about this year’s success.
Seven (SEVEN!) Union Academy players were called into the U.S. U-16 camp.
MLS
That Red Bulls match just got a little more important, with New York taking all three points on the road at Portland.
Cincinnati tied the all time goals allowed record (set last year by Orlando City) in a 2-0 loss to Atlanta. Josef Martinez continued his absurd 15-game scoring streak.
FC Dallas held Seattle 0-0 on the road.
What is Bobby Warshaw pondering after Wednesday’s games?
Canadian Championship
Montreal surprised Toronto FC 1-0 in the first round of the Canadian Championship.
U.S. Soccer
“Who wouldn’t want to coach the best team in the world?” asks potential USWNT hire (and current Seattle Reign skipper) Vlatko Andonovski.
My thought is to go with the strongest lineup on the two Sundays and put in the backups for the game in San Jose and hope you get a result like they got against Sporting KC last year.
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The good news is that if LAFC can get a result at home against Toronto Saturday, the Union will clinch a home playoff game before they have to play Sunday since NYRB and DC United still have to play each other. And any Union win in the last 4 games means a top 3 finish.
I know throughout the season, people have been worried about goal differential. Here is an update in the scenarios where it could matter (using W-L-T notation):
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If the Union go 2-0-2 and NYCFC goes 1-3-0, then the Union would need to make up 7 goals (and score at least one more). The good news is that for this scenario to matter, the Union would need to know exactly what is necessary going into the last game.
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If the Union go 1-3-0 and Atlanta goes 0-0-4 then Atlanta would win on goal differential unless the Union’s win is by 2 more goals than the sum of their 3 losses.
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If the Union go 0-2-2 and Toronto and/or DC go 3-0-0 than those teams would still need to make up an 8 and 10 goal differential respectively.
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If the Union go 0-3-1 and NYRB goes 3-0-0, NYRB needs to make up a 9 goal differential.
NYC has had a lot of draws this year. So correct me if I’m wrong, but if we go into the finale down 3 points, a win means finishing ahead of them. We still have a legitimate chance to grab #1, especially with the NYC-ATL game coming up. A home playoff game is almost certain, so you can’t rotate with simply earning that in mind. I agree with Andy above. Go for 6 points with NYRB and Columbus and hope for the best with the 2nd team in SJ. 6 points may be enough to make the finale matter. We need to make up 2 points from NYC and keep an eye on ATL below us.
You’re correct about NYCFC having a lot of draws, but in the scenario I outlined above (Union get 5 points in the next 3 games while NYCFC only get 3) Union would be 3 points behind AND would now have the same 9 draws as NYCFC and then goal differential comes into play.
Very good point. I think what you said proves the point about needing 6 points. I don’t think NYC earns less than 4 to be honest. But I can’t imagine they earn 6 or more. I think 6 for us is the minimum we should demand and 7 or more is fantastic
Wins is the first tie breaker. Win out, or win at least 3, and then have NYC only win one going forward and the Union could overtake them for first place.
Just noticed that the basics for the expansion draft for next year have been posted. Nashville and Miami will each take 5 players from teams that did not lose a player to Cincinnati in this year’s draft. Each team can protect 12 players, up one from last year (no mention regarding home growns but I assume they’ll be safe).
this will be interesting as more team will have eyes on us than last year. could be an interesting way to shake up the lineup
I’m wondering if the Derrick Jones Trade will play into this with Nashville. Maybe it also includes a handshake deal for them to not take any of our players in the expansion draft?